Dangxiang's southern expedition army has been trapped in Qingshui Valley for two days.
In two days, Li Jikui ordered Zhuo Ban to attack Qingshui Mountain twice more, but they were all beaten back and more than a thousand people were lost.
In addition to the frontal attack, some agile masters were also sent to go up the mountain from other places to destroy the trebuchets and heavy crossbows of the Tielin Army.
But with Zhong Wu and Zhao Lao, two veterans on the battlefield, these masters couldn't find any chance at all.
Most of them were killed before they reached the mountainside.
Within the Dangxiang camp, morale has almost dropped to freezing point.
"Commander, this can't go on like this."
Zhuo Ban said with a sad face: "Brothers have not eaten for two days. If we can't find anything to eat, we will starve to death."
"Inform the cooking camp to kill a group of war horses first so that everyone can have a full meal."
Li Jikui reluctantly issued the order.
For cavalry, war horses are like brothers, so the army strictly orders the slaughter of war horses.
But Li Jikui no longer cares about that much.
That night, the cooking camp killed a hundred war horses.
Speaking of which, one hundred horses is quite a lot, but the party's southern expedition, plus the auxiliary grain transport team, craftsmen and other miscellaneous arms, totaling nearly 30,000 people, how can one hundred war horses be enough to feed them?
Just barely satisfying my hunger.
What's even more terrible is that the forage of the war horses has also been burned by the Tielin Army. The Qingshui Valley area is full of steep mountains. It is not easy for an old hunter to climb up, let alone the war horses.
People can still kill horses and eat their meat, but what do horses eat?
I can only stay hungry.
Starving for two days was not a big problem, but on the sixth day, party war horses began to starve to death on a large scale.
On the seventh and eighth days, more and more horses died of starvation.
On the ninth day, 90% of the horses in the Southern Expedition were starved to death.
The soldiers couldn't finish the horse meat three times a day.
It was already late spring, the weather was starting to get hotter, and the Southern Expeditionary Army did not have enough salt for pickling, so they could only watch the horses rotting.
By the tenth day, except for the mounts of the main generals, all the other war horses were basically starved to death.
Even Li Jikui's horse lost a lot of weight due to hunger.
"Commander, the horsemeat will go bad in a few days, and then we won't have anything to eat."
Zhuo Ban found Li Jikui and suggested: "While the brothers still have the strength, let's fight Qingshui Mountain again."
"Are you sure?"
Li Jikui asked.
"No."
Zhuo Ban shook his head helplessly.
In the past ten days, he had tried every solution he could think of, but he still couldn't set foot on Qingshui Mountain or escape from the canyon.
"Qinghuai is so vicious!"
Li Jikui rubbed his brow and sighed.
He and Qing Huai were also old rivals. Although Qing Huai had led him around for a few days before, he was still the absolute main force.
But this time we lost badly.
At the beginning, everyone said that the Tielin Army's food had been burned and they would not be able to survive for a few days.
As a result, the Tielin Army is now all in full swing, but they are facing the threat of starvation.
"Commander, no matter how vicious Qinghuai is, this battle must be fought, otherwise we will have no chance at all when our brothers are too hungry to survive."
Zhuo Ban said: "Brothers are all warriors, dying in battle is better than dying of starvation, right?"
"Then let's fight again."
Li Jikui nodded helplessly.
On this day, the most brutal battle in history broke out in Qingshui Valley.
Thousands of party members launched the most violent attack on Qingshui Mountain as if they were desperate for their lives.
Under the path in the mountains, corpses piled up like mountains.
In the canyon, rocks were being smashed all day long, and there were burned carts everywhere.
In the end, the party members paid a heavy price with thousands of people, but still ended in a disastrous defeat.
This battle also completely destroyed the last pride of the party members.
On the eighteenth day of being trapped, all the horse meat had rotted, and Dang Xiang's southern expedition lost its last food.
At the top of Qingshui Mountain, Jin Feng stood on the boulder with his hands behind his back, calmly looking at the Dangxiang camp below.
The battlefield is indeed the place where a man can change the fastest.
In less than a month, Jin Feng has undergone earth-shaking changes, both externally and psychologically.
Before coming here, he was an eighteen-year-old frail scholar. He would suffer from heart palpitations for several days after killing a rogue.
But now, he has ordered thousands of people to be killed, but his heart no longer has any fluctuations.
"Sir, what are you thinking about, so fascinated?"
Zhong Wu came up and asked curiously.
"I'm wondering if this battle should be over."
Jin Feng said calmly.
"Sir, has the time come?"
Zhong Wu's eyes lit up and he asked excitedly.
Jin Feng did not answer him, but jumped off the boulder, wrote a letter and handed it over: "Find a way to send it to the Marquis as quickly as possible."
At the foot of Gray Wolf Mountain and at the other end of Jishui Lake, Qinghuai was lying in the shade of a tree and taking a nap.
General Fan was sitting next to him, flipping through his military books, and looking up from time to time in the direction of Qingshui Valley, with unconcealed expectations in his eyes.
Even though more than half a month has passed, General Fan still can't forget the excitement he felt when he first heard Qinghuai describe the entire plan.
The next day, General Fan transferred two thousand of the Fan family's troops who were defending the city to support Tielin's army.
But they have been waiting here for more than half a month, but there is no news from Qingshui Valley.
If the scouts who swam past secretly came back and reported that the party members had almost killed all the horses, General Fan would have thought that Tielin's army did not hold Qingshui Mountain.
Just when General Fan lowered his head to read, Zhong Wu followed Liu Qiong and rushed over.
"Master Marquis, Master Marquis, there is a letter from sir!"
Liu Qiong no longer cared about superiority and inferiority, and excitedly slapped Qinghuai awake.
Unexpectedly, I was so excited that I happened to take a photo of Qinghuai’s wound.
But Qinghuai seemed not to notice the pain and reached out to take the envelope and opened it.
General Fan also hurried up.
After quickly reading the letter, Qinghuai's eyes flashed:
"Liu Qiong, notify the second battalion to bring the boat over!"
"Dong Fei, notify everyone to assemble!"
General Fan also followed suit and issued the order.
The Zhenxi Army camp stationed by the lake became in full swing following these two orders.
The Second Battalion of the Tielin Army quickly carried small wooden boats and planks one by one and put them into Jishui Lake.
In just over half an hour, a simple pontoon bridge was built.
Carrying bamboos and shields, the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the Tielin Army quickly crossed the pontoon bridge and formed a Macedonian phalanx across the Jishui Lake to prevent the party members from taking the opportunity to make a sneak attack.
But until Tielin's army and Fan's army all passed the pontoon bridge, no trace of the party members was seen.
"Brothers, the final battle has arrived. Mr. Jin has dragged the party members to the point where they can no longer move. The next step is up to us."
Qinghuai turned around and shouted: "Brothers, cheer up and kill all the party members. This year, all taxes will be halved!"